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You're going to need one hell of a prison to keep all the prisoners you'd end up with. The US is possibly the only country to never have defaulted on its debt
by j_baker 15y ago
You're going to need one hell of a prison to keep all the prisoners you'd end up with. The US is possibly the only country to never have defaulted on its debt (at one point in time, France would default by executing its debtors every couple of years). Granted, most industrialized nations haven't defaulted in a long, long time. But the point still stands that Greece is hardly the only nation defaulting on its debt right now. Only the most significant.
- josephcooney 15y agoAustralia has never defaulted.
- j_baker 15y agoYou're right. There's about 10-15 countries that haven't. Still, the point that default is the rule and not the exception stands.
- Symmetry 15y agoWe haven't defaulted yet, but our current crop of politicians seem fixated on resolving this oversight... EDIT: Oh, and if you want to get really technical the 1933 decision to not pay back bond-holders in gold but only in US dollars might have been a default (though most people dont' consider it that). And there was one point where we were late with a few payments in the 1970s due to a bureaucratic snafu.